About me

Hello! I'm Julie, grower of all things organic, including three kids. I'm a Master Gardener, heirloom specialist, owner of Garden Delights, and lover of all things garden and nature-related. I write the blog Garden Delights, a chronicle of growing gardens, growing green, growing locavores, growing kids, and growing one day at a time.

? Yep, I thought my shiitake experiment resulted in a waste of time and money. With those first little mushrooms, we just weren't brave enough to give them a try. I trusted our source for the plugs—

Mushroom Mountain

is phenomenal. But because these logs aren't in a sterile environment, we've also seen other mushrooms showing up uninvited. And those mushroom invaders made me nervous.

But then, almost overnight, this happened:

A slew of shiitakes, exploding from the logs. And they

looked

like shiitakes—clusters of lovely brown capped deliciousness.

I just couldn't waste them.

Still skeptical, Peter suggested that I send a photo to Mushroom Mountain—just for a confirmation. I'm sure poor Tradd and Olga probably wish they never sold the plugs to this high maintenance mushroom grower wanna-be. Still, they kindly confirmed that the mushrooms were “beautiful” shiitakes, and to go ahead and eat them.

YEEES!

The funny thing is—I'm not a huge mushroom fan. Ironic, isn't it? In fact, whenever we eat out, Peter is the recipient of any mushrooms that sneak into my meal. For me, I grew shiitakes to up my gardening ante—embracing the challenge of growing something new, adding a unique crop to my resumé. Plus, Peter loves mushrooms.

Now, with three, gallon-sized bags of shiitakes, I've decided it's time for mushroom love. We'll be eating a lot of shiitakes in the next week or two, and I need to stop behaving like a 7-year-old who doesn't want to try new things.

One of those per family is enough.

While I research recipes, though, I decided to go with an tried-and-true meal for our first homegrown shiitakes. Shiitake, Swiss chard, and bacon quiche.

I didn't plan to include bacon, because the shiitakes are savory enough alone. Sadly, though, a friend mentioned bacon—and then I couldn't resist my bacon craving. Bacon, after all, ended my three month trial of vegetarianism. One whiff of bacon frying—and it was all over.

Willpower fail.

There's something amazingly satisfying when you cook a meal composed of ingredients from your garden. Rainbow Swiss chard is both delicious and beautiful, plus the voles haven't decimated it yet like they've brutalized the bok choy. The eggs--only hours old, with rich, vibrant orange yolks. The shiitakes—well, they're the whole point of the quiche, after all. Funky looking and earthy, they emanated a warm, forest aroma. I don't think I've ever smelled anything like it from grocery store mushrooms.

Of course, I cheated with the pie crust. A packaged pie crust makes me seems like a charlatan. But, in my defense, they are awfully good, and I'm always short on time. Feel free to make your own crust. (I promise, I will learn to make pie crust this year. I will, I will.)

Realize that hubby will no longer receive my mushrooms when dining out, because-- who knew?—mushrooms are pretty yummy.

Because our mushrooms grow on very large logs, we should be well supplied for years. The logs require a period of rest before repeat fruiting, which is fine—we have plenty of shiitakes for awhile. Plus, shiitakes can be frozen or dehydrated for storage.

Now, I need your help...please! What's your favorite mushroom recipe? I still have two and a half bags of mushrooms in the refrigerator, plus more to come. Risotto will definitely be in the lineup, but I'd love to know your favorite ways to use mushrooms.

And, if you're interested in growing your own mushrooms, please visit

Mushroom Mountain.

Not only are Tradd and Olga brilliant, they also offer great information and everything you need to grow your own mushrooms.

Who knows? Now that our shiitake experiment succeeded, maybe I'll sign up for wild mushroom foraging with Mushroom Mountain.